Sunday, January 12, 2014

Electrical Products still being sold which should have been taken off shelves years ago

Yes you can still walk into older Hardware stores and find in catalogs which specialize in products  for maintenance dept. electrical items which are no longer permitted to be installed  in new installs or are strictly limited to replacement use but not properly marked  as fore replacement only use.
I run across this almost daily . Despite efforts by UL and CPSC  to get them off shelves.

Take the add I recently saw in in a H&D catalog which is distributed to maintenance depts.  for a bathroom light fixture on right for $11.89
Since at least the late 80's Residential bathrooms etc have been required to have a GFCI outlet installed in
them . Prior to this the electrical outlet was found in the light fixture it self  used primarily to charge a razor
and not be used for Hair Dryer  .
As you can see this fixture has a outlet in it so it can not be used in a new bathroom  but you also see there is no markings in add  for replacement use only yes you could use this in an old bathroom  where permitted but not a new one  now professionals know this but not your average handyman or maintenance man who may well be called on to boot an illegal bath room in some where.  Some of these fixtures come with outlet not installed and plug knockout  you have to remove to install it and you could install it with out the outlet in a new bathroom if this is the case. But how many of these fixtures when you examine them and instructions have no markings of any type warning they are for replacement use only.

The next common items I run across are  receptacle taps used with common 16# gauge  lamp cord .
Items which should not be sold at all in stores most where never properly listed with UL or have since lost there listing after it was determined that  consumers where not properly using them and causing fries and injury's
In the Pictures below are 2 of the more common ones I run across still being sold .

In top picture is a 3 outlet  unit for end of cord and bottom picture a tap with outlet which could be placed any where along the line.
These units where meant strictly to power lamps or a radio nothing else and they where never designed to be used as a permanent outlets in a home but many where and contributed to many horrifying fire deaths which UL and others worked to get off the market but you can still walk into older hardware stores and find them new in the box and even in some catalogs  and as you can see in this installation several taps where put into this lamp line and when everything is plugged in and turned on its overloaded and burns.
but the problem is no matter how many bans you ut in place and laws they are still available including lawn jarts and other items because people do not care about the safety of others it always comes down to greed and the almighty buck.


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